Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “safe and sound” despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, according to the son of the Iranian president.
“I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound,” Mr Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, said in a post on his Telegram channel on March 11.
Mr Mojtaba Khamenei, until now a low profile, if powerful, behind-the-scenes figure, was named Iran’s No. 1 following the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an air strike at the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
But there have been mounting questions about his whereabouts and physical condition after his appointment by the Assembly of Experts clerical body, with the new supreme leader yet to be seen, let alone speak, in public.
State television has called Mr Khamenei a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war” but never specified his injury.
Israel’s intelligence assessment is that Mr Khamenei was lightly wounded, and that was why he had not been seen in public, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.
